A Minnehaha County sheriff’s deputy who was shot Friday night while responding to a call in western Sioux Falls died Monday, according to the sheriff’s office. She was 26.
Katherine Ann Frank died at a Sioux Falls hospital, surrounded by family and friends, according to a joint statement from Sheriff Mike Milstead and Josh Phillips, the sheriff-elect. The office said that Frank donated organs in her last act of service.
“Deputy Frank served with dignity and heart,” Milstead said. In the statement, the sheriff said that her death was “a significant loss to our agency and to the law enforcement community in Sioux Falls.”
Frank is the first Sioux Falls-based law enforcement officer to be killed by gunfire in the line of duty in more than a century, according to The Dakota Scout. She is also the first South Dakota officer to die after being shot in the line of duty since 2011, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.
Frank was one of three deputies who responded Friday evening to a call at a residence in the 2900 block of South Keyrell Drive, west of 41st Street and Ellis Road. The deputies arrived around 7:30 p.m. Around 30 minutes later, gunfire rang out, and both Frank and the suspect were shot, according to authorities. Little information has been released about the circumstances surrounding the call or shooting.
Brandon John Oetken, 39, of Sioux Falls, was taken to the hospital. On Monday afternoon, he was still in the hospital and had not been booked into the Minnehaha County Jail, Sioux Falls Live reported.
Minnehaha County State’s Attorney Daniel Haggar said Saturday that his office had drawn up a complaint against Oetken for three counts of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer and three counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. The charges had not yet been filed in court because Monday was a state holiday, KELO reported. It was unclear if the prosecutors were planning to file other charges now that Frank had died or if Oetken had legal representation making statements.
The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation was investigating the shooting. An investigation report by the attorney general was expected in 30 days, Attorney General Marty Jackley said.
Frank worked at the South Dakota State Penitentiary from September 2022 until she was hired by the sheriff’s office in June 2024. Last month, she celebrated two years since graduating from the academy, according to The Dakota Scout.
She is survived by her parents, five siblings, her grandparents, and her boyfriend, according to an online fundraiser put together by the Minnehaha County Deputies Association. Family members said she was “incredibly funny” and got along with almost everyone. Money raised from the fundraiser would go to her family.
John Thune, U.S. Senator, Mike Rounds, U.S. Senator, and Christine Erickson, Sioux Falls mayor, were among those who expressed their condolences on Monday. The Sioux Falls Police Labor Council asked prosecutors to pursue every charge supported by the evidence.
A memorial has been set up at the Law Enforcement Center, 320 W. Fourth St., in downtown Sioux Falls, where people gathered Monday evening to mourn her death. No funeral arrangements have been announced yet.
Law enforcement agencies in South Dakota paid tribute to Deputy Frank’s end of watch on social media Monday, with many statements ending with “Rest easy, Deputy Frank.”
